A budget is a forward-looking estimate of revenues and expenses. This is a familiar and important personal finance tool for individuals as well as families, who use budgets to ensure that they have enough money on hand to meet short-term needs while also saving enough to achieve long-term goals. Regardless of your income level, tracking your budget over time is crucial for planning - and controlling - your financial future.

Budgets aren’t only important for individuals, of course. Organizations of all kinds, from multinational corporations to nonprofits to governments, must set regular budgets and track them constantly to ensure they remain financially sustainable. Budget estimation and discipline is particularly important for project management professionals, who are responsible for delivering everything from construction projects to digital products on schedule and at expected costs.

Every organization relies on staff with a strong background in creating budgets and keeping track of them over time. From accountants to project managers to chief financial officers (CFOs) and controllers, the work of these professionals is essential to making sure companies, nonprofits, and governments balance revenues and expenses so that they have enough funding on hand to carry out their day-to-day operations.

If you have a talent for balancing your own budget and want to help others better manage theirs, you can also pursue a career as a personal financial advisor. These experts in financial planning play an important role in helping individuals and families manage their money and plan for their future. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, personal financial advisors make a median annual salary of $87,850 per year and typically have at least a bachelor’s degree and often a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) credential.

Yes! Whether you want to learn about personal budgeting to develop good habits for your financial future or accounting and project management skills for your career, Coursera offers a wide range of courses from top-ranked universities like University of Florida, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of California, Irvine, and Rice University. You can also learn how to create budgets through hands-on, guided tutorials taught by experienced instructors as part of the Coursera Project Network. And, since you can learn the same material as on-campus students at a significantly lower tuition, learning through Coursera is a smart move for your own personal budget.